Bernie Sanders on gun control

This is what Bernie Sanders wants to do about gun control:

1. We can expand
background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals
and the dangerously mentally ill. This is an idea that over 80% of Americans
agree with, even a majority of gun owners.2. & 3. We can renew
the assault weapons ban and end the sale of high capacity magazines —
military-style tools created for the purpose of killing people as efficiently
as possible.4. Since 2004, over 2,000 people on the FBI’s terrorist watch
list have legally purchased guns in the United States. Let’s close the “terror gap”
and make sure known foreign and domestic terrorists are included on prohibited
purchaser lists.5. We can close
loopholes in our laws that allow perpetrators of stalking and dating violence
to buy guns. In the United States, the intended targets of a
majority of our mass shootings are intimate partners or family members, and
over 60% of victims are women and children. Indeed, a woman is five times more
likely to die in a domestic violence incident when a gun is present.6. We should close
the loophole that allows prohibited purchasers to buy a gun without a completed
background check after a three-day waiting period expires.
Earlier this year, Dylann Roof shot and killed nine of our fellow Americans
while they prayed in a historic church, simply because of the color of their
skin. This act of terror was possible because of loopholes in our background
check laws. Congress should act to ensure the standard for ALL gun purchases is
a completed background check. No check — no sale.7. It’s time to pass
federal gun trafficking laws. I support Kirsten Gillibrand’s
Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking & Crime Prevention
Act of 2015, which would “make gun trafficking a federal crime and provide
tools to law enforcement to get illegal guns off the streets and away from criminal
networks and street gangs.”8. It’s time to strengthen
penalties for straw purchasers who buy guns from licensed
dealers on behalf of a prohibited purchaser.9. We must authorize
resources for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study and
research the causes and effects of gun violence in the United
States of America.10. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
there are over 21,000 firearm suicides every year in the United States. It’s
time we expand and
improve our mental health capabilities in this country so that
people who need care can get care when they need it, regardless of their level
of income.